NEW YORK (AP) – With Sony Corp. chief Howard Stringer, media magnates Barry Diller and Conrad Black and Queen Noor of Jordan as guests, journalist Tina Brown’s first TV talk show resembles one of her famed dinner parties.
“I don’t have the wine, unfortunately, to go with it,” she said Tuesday.
Her hourlong show, “Topic A with Tina Brown,” premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday on CNBC. It will be a discussion about business, politics and the media in a postwar world.
The former editor in chief of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and her own defunct magazine, Talk, saw her television debut delayed for more than a month by the war. Her talk show, to air four times a year, was to begin March 19, the day the war began.
Brown, who has been writing for The Times of London and Salon.com, joked in print about being canceled before she even got on the air. She said she was eager to try something new.
“I’ve been an editor for 22 years, and a writer, and I’m very curious about what it is like to work in a new medium,” she said. “Cable TV right now provides a lot of opportunities for different kinds of voices and points of view.”
She did practice shows with stand-ins, but nothing could prepare her for the twists and turns of conversation with real guests. Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point,” and historian Simon Schama are also on the first show.
When she was to begin in March a few days before the Oscars, Brown planned to talk about Hollywood and the tensions between art and commerce. She hopes to revive the topic on a later show.
Brown has no plans yet to do the show more often.
“Let’s see how it goes,” she said. “There’s a lot to learn in a new TV show. I’m enjoying that process a lot.”
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